Hi! I’m Jon Brown and here are share the things I love: world travel, photography, WordPress and code.
This blog started when at 33 years old when I left a job I really liked working with people I really enjoyed to listen to my heart which kept whispering it wanted to travel again. It was a difficult decision to leave a comfortable life I’d built upon 5 years in college earning a degree in civil engineering followed by 10 years practice, but it’s one I’ve never regretted.
My adventure began with a 6 months road trip across North America followed by followed by a year backpacking around Asia before I first returned home. It wasn’t long after my mind was freed from day to day routines I found so comfortable with that I came to find:
- I was really happy being free to travel at will, even more than I expected.
- As much as I enjoyed my career in Civil Engineering and the people I worked with at RBF, it wasn’t a career that would offer the location independent flexibility I wanted.
- It was possible to find a career I enjoyed, with people I liked AND that could keep my wanderlust well fed.
I update this page way too infrequently, but I’ve just turned 40. I’ve been self-employed since I left Civil Engineering 7 years ago. Briefly I tried to make a go as a photographer but after a couple years it was clear that wasn’t quite the right fit. I segued in programming, something I’ve done as a hobbyist since I was about 10.
Ironically at 18 years old and confronted with a college major the only reason I chose Engineering over programming was I saw that later as being forever chained to a computer at a desk in an office under flickering florescent lights. Little did I know in 1991 that someday laptops and wi-fi would cover huge swatchs of the planet and it would be my ticket to working from a hammock on a beach in Thailand.
“Working from a hammock on a beach in Thailand”, is something I say a lot and while it’s usually just a metaphor, for being able to work anywhere, but I do occasionally use it quite literally as well.